RESOURCES FOR LEARNING GE'EZ: THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA

October 3, 2012

An archivist from the
Archdiocese of Toronto contacted me recently to help her identify a codex, having (correctly) posited that its language is Gэ'эz. The exact provenance of the codex is unknown, but it was acquired (either as a gift, or bought) by a French military
officer serving in Africa in the 1950s. The officer later brought the codex to Canada and it is now part of the Lerman family estate. The director at the archive has kindly allowed me to put up an image. Here are the opening lines on the first page:

As some of you might have been able to figure out, the codex is an Ethiopic rendition of the Book of Psalms. The hand is quite clear although there are some orthographic peculiarities. The opening lines in the image are Psalm 1:1-2 with a thematic incipit. I've notated and transliterated them here to help you decipher them:

In order
to facilitate this process of deciphering these texts (and help you review),
I’ve color coded my transliteration --> blue indicates roots that appear in the verb
glossary [17] and are either in a verbal [10, 14 – 16], nominal [5] or
adjectival [19] form; orange indicates
prepositions [9] and yellow indicates important prefixes
and suffixes: the construct state [8], the accusative marker [11], possession
[12] and the medio-passive ta-prefix [21]. What’s left are, for the most part,
easily recognizable cognates and proper nouns. I’ve glossed a few important
terms below each text. Good luck!

May 7, 2012

21.1: Most
active verbs assume the passive voice when the prefix <<ተ>> (ta-) is added to them. This prefix also sometimes produces a
reflexive or a reciprocal meaning. The ta-prefix be added to any of the
four types of verbs, making Bt, Dt, Lt and Qt.

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

B

ሐነጸ

to build

Bt

ተሐንጸ

to be built

ገብረ

to do

ተገብረ

to be done

to be made

ረከበ

to find

ተረክበ

to be found

to exist

ነገረ

to speak

ተነግረ

to be said

to be proclaimed

ወሀበ

to give

ተውህበ

to be given

Note that
oftentimes, in Bt, the medial vowel disappears, so: ሰገደ (sagada – he
worshipped) becomes ተሰግደ (tasagda – he was worshipped.) Also, not every Bt, Dt, Lt and Qt form verb
has a corresponding “active” form.

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

D

ገሠጸ

to instruct

Dt

ተገሠጸ

to be admonished

ፈነወ

to send

ተፈነወ

to be sent

ፈወሰ

To cure

ተፈወሰ

to be healed

L

ሣቀየ

to torment

Lt

ተሣቀየ

to suffer

ባረከ

to bless

ተባረከ

to receive benediction

ቤዘወ

to redeem

ተቤዘወ

to be redeemed

Q

ተርጐመ

to translate

Qt

ተተርጐመ

to be translated

to be interpreted

21.2: Dt
verbs, especially those derived from stative verbs, can also have the meaning
of “to show / regard oneself as something”, so:

April 30, 2012

In Gəʿəz, pronominal suffixes
on transitive verbs typically denote adirect object, i.e. a noun in the accusative case. To review the direct object, have another look at the entry on the accusative
case. [If have difficulty viewing the Gəʿəz script on your browser, you may view this blog entry by clicking here.]

Oftentimes, as in
Aramaic / Syriac, these suffixes will anticipate an object which appears later in the sentence, prefixed with the la- preposition. Lambdin
terms this the “qatalo la-nəguš construction.” This type of anticipatory-suffix
infuses the object with greater specificity and definiteness. Note
that, in this construction, the object affixed with
the la-
is not marked in the accusative case.

ሐነጸ፡ንጉሥ፡ሀገረ።àሐነጾ፡ንጉሥ፡ለሀገር።

ḥanaṣa nəguš hagara // à hanaṣo nəguš lahagar//

The king built a city. à The king built [it,] the city.

ተርጐሙ፡ዛተ፡መጻሕፍተ።àተርጐምዋ፡ለዛቲ፡መጻሕፍት።

targʷamu zāta maṣāhəfta // à targʷaməwwā lazāti
maṣāḥəft //

They translated these books. à They translated [them,] these books.

The pronominal suffixes are, for the most part, fairly easy to spot and decipher.
Here’s a general overview of how they appear

singular

plural

3rd masc.

-o

-ኦ

-omu

-ኦሙ

3rd fem.

-ā

-ኣ

-on

-ኦን

2nd masc.

-ka

-ከ

-kəmu

-ክሙ

2nd fem.

-ki

-ኪ

-kən

-ክን

1st com.

-ni

-ኒ

-na

-ነ

Some predictable
phonetic changes occur to accommodate the 3rd person suffixes.
Importantly, a helping “-h-” appears if they are affixed to stems ending in –ā.
If they are affixed to stems ending in –u or -ə, they appear beginning with -əww
and -əyy, respectively, so:

The Learner // ተመሃሪ // Tamahāri

I came across the rich Classical Ethiopic corpus in the course of my doctoral research and was immediately taken with Ge'ez language. There are very few resources on the language and this blog is a step to remedy that by providing an easier entry-point for other Ge'ez-aficionados! I hope you find it helpful in your work and I invite your corrections and suggestions for improvement.